New York/LA: A visual comparison of public life in two cities

Abstract

This paper uses pairs of photographs taken in public settings to develop macro‐level generalizations about social life in two U.S. cities: New York and Los Angeles. Drawing from the work of Erving Goffman, my analysis of these photographs is based on the assumption that social life consists of a series of setting‐based contests for social status which, in their totality, combine to form what Randall Collins has called “The Microfoundations of Macrosociology.” The paper concludes by addressing some of the similarities and differences between the O.S.’s two largest cities and closes on a reflexive note: these depictions of two environments may tell as much about my own orientation while residing in them as they reveal about the cities themselves.